


Running Out of Options

by CloudCover



Category: The Two Princes (Podcast)
Genre: Amir's POV, Gen, Introspection, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26567950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudCover/pseuds/CloudCover
Summary: Amir's perspective on meeting Rupert in the forest.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 70





	Running Out of Options

**Author's Note:**

> This is a chunk of story that I cut out of a long fic I'm working on that I liked but just didn't work for the pacing of my other story. I hope you enjoy it!

If there was one thing Amir has discovered in the 3 weeks since he first ran away into the forest, it’s that he had not accounted for this much alone time. He had never had so much time to himself before. So much time just to think. The forest was a tricky place, always keeping him on his toes, but sometimes he would go days without facing a trap or a foe. In all of the last 17 years of his life he had barely had a single hour of un-scheduled time, now he was faced with endless days of… walking. Walking and stewing.

For all his rigorous training and meticulous planning, he had never envisioned a scenario where he would be without his horse or at the very least his map. Stupid! His mother was right, he needed to do better, be better, try harder. So what if the dense trees blocked out most of the stars he used to navigate? So what if the forest itself seemed to change every time his back was turned? Those were just excuses. He should have planned better. He should have paid more attention in his geography and navigation lessons or… something! At least he could acknowledge that he was making his wilderness survival tutors proud - he had tracked and trapped small prey animals, distinguished poisonous berries, done a small amount of first aid, built fires. Even that though… ever since his map had literally run away from him on the back of his horse, he had come to realize how dependent he was on the tools he had with him – especially his matches. 

He sent another thanks to the heavens for his matches as he lit his nightly fire. Once he had the squirrel he had caught that day roasting nicely over it, he took an inventory of all that he had with him. It was his one and only daily ritual and he clung to it. His rations were getting low, but he already knew that, it was why he was eating squirrel that night - he never knew if he would be able to find food so when he did he took advantage. Of course, his extra rations had also escaped on the back of his horse. At least he still had plenty of matches.

This small task done, Amir lapsed back into his main daily activity: thinking. Here he was, Prince of the East, in this place where all his regality counted for nothing. And who was he without his title, his station in life? It was hard to contemplate. Who was Amir? Not the boy who’d spent every waking minute of his life preparing to survive in this place. Not the boy whose shoulders had always borne the weight of the prophecy. Not the boy who carried an entire kingdom’s hopes and dreams with him into this cursed forest. 

Amir let out a frustrated sigh and threw another log onto his fire. Even if he ever did figure out who “Amir” was, did it matter? As soon as he broke this curse, the rest of his entire life was planned out for him. Even _who_ he was supposed to spend it with. His thoughts shifted to long dark hair, a flowing silk scarf of bright mustard yellow, brown eyes shimmering playfully… he had to stop himself. Knowing who he would one day marry had given him extra time and energy to put toward his training – time and energy that he didn’t plan on wasting.

Okay! So his original plan of heading into the forest a full month before his 18th birthday in order to gain an advantage over the Western Prince had not gone as intended. He wasn’t going to have time to get to the Hollow before the other prince and lay some sort of trap for him. He wasn’t even sure if he’d _get_ to the Hollow at all at this point. He needed to think of a new plan. How could he turn this situation to his advantage? Surely after three weeks in the forest he had gained enough knowledge of its tricks and secrets that…

He groaned and threw himself back in frustration. It was no use. What did any of it matter if he couldn’t even _find_ the Hollow? Four more days. That’s all he had. Four more days to find the Hollow. Four more days before he fulfilled his destiny.

Amir fell into an uneasy sleep.

Leaves rustled, twigs cracked, unknown animals rustled in the bushes and some number of hours later the air around him brightened as the sun presumably rose somewhere beyond the dense shade of tree trunks. Amir resigned to get up and start moving again. His actions were automatic at this point; stamping out the last embers of his fire, re-packing his satchel, making sure the matches were safe inside his pocket. He felt the aches in his joints more every day. Soon this whole ordeal would be over, and he would either be dead or sleeping in his comfortable bed back in his palace. He supposed that either option would put less strain on his bones than sleeping on the cold ground every night, but he fully intended to return to his down mattress.

His longing for fluffy pillows and warm baths was abruptly interrupted by what sounded like an animal crashing through the trees nearby. Muscle memory took over as Amir unsheathed his sword and crouched down. He creeped toward the sounds of branches breaking and what could possibly be… someone muttering? He surreptitiously drew back a curtain of vines to see, not an animal, but a man, no – a boy – in tattered Western clothing, blundering through the underbrush, swinging his sword around recklessly to clear a path through the vines around him. 

It was hard to tell how old the boy was, he seemed to be younger than Amir – his face was soft and he was skinny and gangly in the manner of a teen who had just undergone an intense growth spurt – but it was possible that they were the same age, it was sometimes hard to tell with Westerners. His ragged appearance paired with his obvious lack of skill told Amir all he needed to know: that this person was neither the Prince of the West, nor a threat. So what could this commoner be doing here so deep in the forest? Had Amir really overshot the Hollow so badly that he was now close enough to the Western kingdom to run into random people stumbling around? What sort of person had cause to be roaming about in a cursed forest? Could this boy be working with the Western Prince? Perhaps a scout? 

As questions flooded his head Amir continued to quietly follow the boy, staying close enough to see him, but ensuring that he would be hidden from view. He took extra precautions to make sure that if there were anyone else lurking in the area, they wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him while his attention was focused on the blundering boy with a sword. If this boy was working for the other prince, then surely he would lead Amir to him at some point. 

Amir wished he could get close enough to hear what the boy was saying. He seemed to be keeping up a constant stream of words as he muttered to himself while slashing ineptly at the vines and underbrush. Amir took a chance and jumped behind a tree to bring himself a little closer.

_ Crack! _

He had stepped on a stick and broken it. The boy had noticed. 

“Who’s there?” the boy called.

Amir held his breath and his body still. He started to go through his options. If the boy found him he could fight him, or question him, or capture him. Okay, what was he hoping to gain? What would be the best course of action to…

Buzzzz!

His ruminating was cut short by the sound of a giant wasp flying past him and toward the boy. Amir didn’t blame the wasp, the boy made an easy target. Amir used the boy’s distracted state to his advantage and peaked around the tree. 

The wasp flew around the boy’s head looking for an opening while the boy swung his sword wildly at it. Amir was concerned – what if the boy was injured? What should he do? Should he step in to help? Incredibly the boy’s sword struck the wasp and cleaved it clean in half. Amir was surprised. Perhaps the boy deserved more credit than…

BUZZZZZZZZ!

At the sound of a whole swarm or wasps closing in on him the boy screamed and ran. No, Amir’s initial judgement seemed to be correct. This guy had no idea what he was doing. That fact was further proved to be correct as he ran wildly through the underbrush and disappeared from view down into a giant hole. From the way the wasps abandoned their target and flew hastily away, Amir had an idea of what could be waiting at the bottom of that hole.

Amir knocked his head lightly against the tree. Of course he knew the right thing to do here would be to go and rescue the hapless boy from the bloodthirsty plant lurking in that pit, but doing so would give up his position and leave him vulnerable to attack if the boy WAS in league with the Western Prince. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to weigh his options, it was now or never. A human life was at stake and he had to act.

He leapt out from his hiding spot and crossed quickly to the last place he saw the boy. Sure enough he could hear the singing from another one of those lascivious plants and smell a hint of those rancid mushrooms. He wrapped a scrap of fabric around his nose and mouth before tying the end of his rope to a nearby tree and jumping down into the darkness.

He landed on his feet with a squeltching noise. He bent down and touched the ground, rubbing the goop he found there between his fingers. Sure enough – it was those intoxicating mushrooms that had reminded him of jasmine and honey and roasting pistachios when he had first trudged through a patch and burst their spores and found himself being lured into a trap weeks ago. He was relatively sure his impromptu face-covering would be enough to prevent their drug from affecting him, but even still he made sure to take small breaths.

There was no sign of the boy, but he could hear him calling for help from farther down a tunnel. He ran off in that direction and quickly found them. The struggling boy was wrapped in vines and being lifted off the ground over the mouth of a horrifying looking, sharp-toothed plant. 

Amir charged in yelling, turning the monster’s attention away from the boy right before plunging his sword through one of its’ many blood-shot eyes. 

The monster screamed in agony and dropped the boy. The poor thing was shaking like a newborn fawn as he stumbled away from writhing plant. He stared at Amir bewildered, brain still clearly addled by the mushrooms, but starting to come out of it. An explanation about Amir’s sudden appearance was clearly necessary but there was no time.

“Go back the way you came. You’ll find a rope you can climb up. I’ll take care of this overgrown flytrap. Now go!” Amir shoved the poor confused boy back down the tunnel as he raised his sword and turned back to the monster.

He didn’t look back to make sure the boy had followed his instructions before diving back into the fray. The monster was clearly used to catching and eating drugged and confused prey and was a surprisingly easy foe to vanquish sober. Amir slashed easily through its many flailing vine-tentacles to get back toward its center where its disgusting mouth and remaining eyes were. Last time he had fought one of these things it was through a mushroom-brained fog and he was barely able to make it out alive. This time, he was able to move quickly and use his sword effectively and soon the monster roared as he plunged his sword through its heart and twisted, its tattered vines slumping to the ground around him. 

Amir gave himself a moment to catch his breath before turning and running back up the tunnel. He couldn’t let that boy get away. He could still be working for the Western Prince and if he got away then Amir lost his chance of finding him and fulfilling his destiny. He knew it was still a long shot that this seemingly innocent kid would be working for the royal family, but he was running out of time and had to cling to even this small possibility.

Incredibly, he found the boy only just getting himself to the top of the rope and heaving himself over the lip of the hole. Amir added to the running tally he realized he was keeping: not good at traversing the forest, no skill with a sword, unaware of his surroundings, and weak upper-body strength. He felt demoralized as he realized the chance that this guy was working with the prince was getting slimmer and slimmer.

Amir grabbed the rope and hoisted himself up and out of the pit once and for all. The boy was laying on the ground, breath heaving. He didn’t seem at all intrigued or concerned at Amir’s appearance here in the forest with him. Was it common for Easterners to be wandering in the forest so close to the Western kingdom?

“Wow! That was intense!” the boy huffed out conversationally. “What was that thing?”

“I don’t know what they’re called, but the forest is full of them.” Amir responded, as he reeled up his rope and thought about his first nearly-lethal run-in with one of the man-eating plants and all the times since that he was able to spot their traps and avoid them.

“Well I’m really glad you came along!” The boy chattered on brightly. How could he be so cheerful? Does he not realize that he was almost just killed and if it wasn’t the plant that ate him he would no doubt be killed by the next monster that came along. He was in way over his head. 

What was he doing here? Amir wondered not for the first time as hoisted his rope over his shoulder but made the decision not to untie it from the tree just yet. The boy’s eyes lingered on the rope as Amir finally tugged the cloth off his face and cast it to the side.

“Thank you for rescuing me.” The boy continued, finally looking Amir in the face. “And for being so beautiful.”

“What?” Amir had been expecting the boy to recognize him as the prince of the East and to show him a little respect not only for saving his life but because he was royalty, but instead he sat there in the dirt babbling on incessantly. 

The boy was clearly flustered for how he had spoken out of turn in front of a member of the royal family as he tried to explain himself. Amir wished that he would just shut up already so that he could question him about the prince of the West.

“So I guess what I’m trying to say is, thank you.” The boy finally took a breath in the midst of his never-ending flow of words. “Thank you for saving me. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.” 

Amir rubbed his temple. He could feel a headache forming. “Well it’s a good thing I’ve been following you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you want me to keep writing this Amir's POV of Season 1. The story I originally wrote it for diverges from canon, but it might be interesting to just keep going with this all the way through the canonical adventure through the forest :)


End file.
